..What if they communicate via odor, or some other strange medium?
An >image as such might not even be concievable to them... >
<snip> >
I don't know. Seems to me that one attribute generally favored by
natural
selection is increased awareness of one's environment... <snip>

i agree with scott. if et communicates via odor or other medium,
i have to imagine some odor emitting alien scientist would
develop an instrument that works like our eyes. human
scientists are developing instruments that detect the
"language" of ants by meauring their pheromone emissions.

extropians might expect that alien signals would be
understandable because they are carefully
*designed* to be understandable by a wide range of
lifeforms. now, if the ets can figure out how to communicate
with our whales, i will *really* be impressed. {8^D spike